he
receives. The manner in which defaulters are treated, is peculiar to
the French government. If the sum assessed be not paid within the
appointed time, a soldier is billeted at the house of the defaulter, and
another is daily added till the arrear be cleared. The greater part of
the taxes have been imposed during the strong days of the Revolution;
and as they are sufficiently productive, and the present government have
not the odium of their first institution, they are suffered to continue
upon their old foundation--that is to say, upon an infinite number of
successive decrees, many of which contradict each other. No one,
therefore, knows exactly what he has to pay, and any one may be made to
pay according to the caprice of the collector.

CHAP. VII.

_General Character of the Town--Public Walk--Gardens--Half-yearly
Fair--Gaming Houses--Table d'Hotes--English at
Amiens--Expence of Living._

THE noise of the people collecting for the fair, and the consequent
bustle of the inn, awoke me at an early hour in the morning; and after a
breakfast which reminded me of England, I sallied forth to see the town
and the lions. A vast multitude of people had assembled from the
surrounding country, and were collected around the several booths. The
day was fine, the bells were ringing, and the music playing; every one
was dressed in their holiday clothes, and every one seemed to have a
happy and careless face, suitable to the festivity of the occasion.

Amiens is most delightfully situated, the country around being highly
cultivated. It is, in every respect, one of the cleanest towns in
France; and the frequent visits and long residence of Englishmen, have
produced a very sensible alteration in the manner of living amongst the
inhabitants. Though some of the houses are very ancient, and the streets
are narrow, it has not the ruinous nor close appearance of the other
towns on the Paris road. It has been lately newly paved; and there is
something, of the nature of a parish-rate for keeping it clean, and in
summer for watering the streets.

Though Amiens has suffered very considerably by the war, it has still,
in appearance at least, an extensive trade. The manufactures are of the
same kind as those at Abbeville. Besides their cloths, however, they
work up a considerable quantity of camblets, callimancoes, and baizes,
chiefly red and spotted, for domestic consumption. They were in great
distress for wool, and could procure